How To Reset Windows 7 Or Windows 8/8.1 Lost Password Without Using Any Third Party Tool

Losing Windows Login Password can give anyone a big headache. You can avoid this problem by creating password reset disk for Windows, but if you don’t have password reset disk, it not going to be easy for your to get through this without losing your valuable data. In such situation, you can try hard to remember your windows password. If you still can’t remember you password, you have to format your system and reinstall Windows but that way you will lose all of your data and personal files. Luckily there exist a way to avoid all the data loss and re-installation of Windows. This tutorial is all about resetting lost Windows password.

Reset Windows 8/8.1 Lost Password:

Step 1

First set your computer to boot from DVD drive or Removable Media (If you have Windows 8 DVD, set you computer to boot from DVD drive and if you have Bootable USB, set to boot from Removable media). Insert Bootable Windows 8 DVD or Bootable Windows 8 USB into your PC and Press any key when you see, “Press any key to boot from DVD/USB….”

Step 2

Windows 8 setup page will open, just click on Next.

After clicking Next you will see Windows 8 Install page, don’t click on Install Now but click on Repair your computer link shown in bottom-left corner.

Step 3

You will see three options, click on Troubleshoot.

In Troubleshoot menu click on Advanced Options.

In Advanced Options, click on Command Prompt.

Step 4

Now cmd window will open, in command window type following commands(press Enter after every command):

d: (This command will change the working directory to “D:” drive on your hard drive.)

dir (This command will show you the content of “D:” drive.)

If you find “Program files” and “Windows” folder in “D:” directory, then it is your windows directory. We have to change few things here (If you don’t see Program files and Windows folders in D: drive then go to next drive and check there). Just type following commands (press Enter after every command):

cd windowssystem32

ren sethc.exe sethc-backup.exe

copy cmd.exe sethc.exe

Now close command prompt window and click on Continue to restart your PC.

Step 5

At Windows Login screen, press “Shift-Key” 5 times, The Magic happens here, a command prompt window will open with Administrator privileges. Type following commands one by one(Press Enter after every command)-

net user

net user [username] *

Replace [username] with your Username, in my case it is “Khan PC”. If a username contains spaces, it must be written in double-quotes.

After entering above commands, it will ask to type a password for the user, just press Enter. Again it will ask to confirm password, press Enter again. You can also type your desired password but it won’t be visible and you have to type same password both times.

It will show a message, “The command completed successfully.” Close the command window.

Step 6

Click on the Username and without typing the password (if you have not set any password in Step 5, otherwise enter the password you have set and press Enter) press Enter button.